403 Forbidden

TRENTON — Touting a new selection process he says is devoid of politics and driven by need and the bottom line, Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday signed off on 10 school construction projects in the state’s poorest districts.

The number of schools approved for construction is far smaller than the 51-school list Christie scrapped last year. Officials in districts no longer slated for work decried the snub as ignoring needed projects the state had already spent money planning to build or refurbish.

Christie announced the $584 million in construction through the Schools Development Authority as a step to curb expenses and stop the waste of tax dollars. He said the process that placed 51 schools on the previous list was riddled with political favors and waste.

"We’re going to move carefully and deliberately in the expenditure of the people’s money in this state," Christie said. "The phrase ‘regardless of the cost’ is stricken from the vocabulary of this government."

Christie said each project was reviewed for need and efficiency. A list ranking all of the proposed projects and how they measured up will be released when SDA Director Mark Larkin goes to the board in March for final approval.

Under a more than decade-old court order, the state is compelled to build schools in the poorest districts. Christie’s list of schools includes Bridgeton, Elizabeth, Long Branch, Jersey City, New Brunswick, Newark, Paterson and West New York. The plan calls for building one high school and nine elementary schools.

Christie expects construction to begin this year at two sites: a magnet high school in Elizabeth and a Long Branch elementary school. The remaining projects will be in the development this year, he said.

By working to standardize projects, or develop a common design, Christie said more savings could be realized on the other eight projects before construction begins.

Many projects that were approved under former Gov. Jon Corzine did not make Christie’s list. The SDA will review schools each year, Christie said, and decide which new schools should be added. There are no quotas, and next year could bring five or 20 new schools, Christie said.

Local education officials with schools left off the list objected Tuesday.

The state has already spent $20 million for a new Phillisburg High School, but the overcrowded Warren County school didn’t make the list. Superintendent Mark Miller said Phillipsburg’s absence from the list is "appalling."

Half the students take classes in 31 trailers scattered behind the current school’s structure, some of which are 15 years old. There are so many trailers, Miller said, they block passage on a nearby city street.

"There is no question in my mind or the mind of anyone else who knows Phillipsburg that these students deserve a new schools," Miller said. "I have no idea why we are not on this list."

Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (D-Essex) expressed shock that the Cleveland Street School in Orange, a 100-year-old building, was left off the list.

"If this school does not qualify for funding under the governor’s new ‘prioritization system’ then I cannot wait to see what standards this system is based upon," Jasey said in a statement. "I hope that the governor lives up to his promise to provide complete ‘transparency’ when it comes to his prioritization system so that we can determine if this is truly a merit-based system."

Officials whose schools made the list were elated.

New Brunswick School Superintendent Richard Kaplan said his district’s A. Chester Redshaw Elementary School is "the only school in the state they (state officials) tore down and didn’t rebuild. We should be priority one."

Since 2006, the Redshaw School’s children have attended class in a warehouse. It has no playground, is across town and requires kids be bused there. It was only intended to be open two to three years, he said.

The new school, which will house 675 children in grades 1-5, will be built on an empty lot on Livingston Avenue where the former school once stood.